Management system and method for controlling management system

ABSTRACT

In a management system, an acquisition unit acquires information regarding adjustment of an amount of resources to be used for a first processing system according to an instruction for switching a processing system that processes a request transmitted from a predetermined network system. An adjustment instruction unit issues an instruction for increasing the number of virtual machines in a second processing system as an adjustment instruction to adjust an amount of resources in the second processing system based on this acquired information. The processing system that processes the request transmitted from the predetermined network system is switched according to this adjustment instruction.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

One disclosed aspect of the embodiments relates to a technique foradjusting a resource amount of resources included in a processing systemwhen the processing system is switched.

2. Description of the Related Art

In recent years, there has been a cloud service as a service allowing auser to use various kinds of applications running on a server existingon the Internet. In the cloud service such as an Infrastructure as aService (IaaS) and a Platform as a Service (PaaS), a cloud servicevendor provides a resource such as a virtual machine and a storage to asystem administrator via a network. The virtual machine is a logicalcomputer established by dividing a server by a logical unit irrespectiveof a physical configuration with use of a virtualization technique, andconfigured in such a manner that each logical computer operates whilehaving an independent operating system. The system administrator canconstruct a system for providing an individual service with use of theresource such as the virtual machine and the storage provided by thecloud service vendor.

The system constructed with use of the cloud service can automaticallyadjust a resource amount based on an amount of received requests and aload for processing these requests according to a setting arbitrarilymade by the system administrator. For example, Japanese UnexaminedPatent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No.2013-543171 discusses an auto-scaling function of automaticallyallocating a resource necessary to execute a program, and changing theallocated resource after the execution of the program is started.

Such processing for adjusting the resource amount is performed by aresource manager prepared in the cloud service. The amount of requestsmeans the number of requests received by a load balancer per unit time.The load for processing means a load imposed for processing in thevirtual machine, and refers to a central processing unit (CPU) usagerate and a memory usage rate, a time taken to return a response, and thelike of the virtual machine. The adjustment of the resource amountincludes, for example, scaling-out, which increases the number ofvirtual machines, and scaling-up, which increases an allocation ofhardware resources to the virtual machine. Further, the adjustment ofthe resource amount also includes scaling-in, which reduces the numberof virtual machines, and scaling-down, which reduces the allocation ofthe hardware resources to the virtual machine. The hardware resourcesare a CPU, a memory, the storage, and the like. Further, the loadbalancer can also automatically carry out the scaling-out and the likebased on the amount of received requests.

Further, in recent years, a technique called a Blue-Green deployment hasbeen used sometimes, at the time of, for example, a version upgrade ofthe system constructed with use of the above-described cloud service.The version upgrade of the system includes, for example, a versionupgrade of an application executed on the virtual machine in the system.The system after the version upgrade is equipped with an additionalfunction that the system can provide, and/or is changed in type and/orformat of data that the system manages.

Now, the Blue-Green deployment will be described.

First, a processing system as a released production environment, whichis currently in charge of receiving requests from an external networkand processing these requests, is operating in the cloud service. Theprocessing system includes at least one or more virtual machinesconfigured to process the requests, and the load balancer that functionsas a load distribution device configured to distribute the requests tothe virtual machines. Then, when it is desired to upgrade the version ofthis processing system, a processing system after the version upgradethat is different from the processing system of the current version isfurther constructed in the cloud service. After that, once it has cometo a timing when it is desired to upgrade the version, for example, asetting of a connection destination indicating a target of thetransmission of the requests from the external network is changed in thecloud service, by which the processing system serving as the releasedproduction environment is switched. At this time, the releasedproduction environment is switched to the processing system after theversion upgrade. The version upgrade of the system is realized by thisswitching.

The processing system in which the above-described system of the currentversion is in operation, i.e., the processing system before theswitching is called a Blue environment. On the other hand, theprocessing system in which the above-described system after the versionupgrade is constructed, i.e., the processing system after the switchingis called a Green environment. Hereinafter, the Blue environment and theGreen environment may be referred to as a first processing system and asecond processing system, respectively.

The switching of the processing system by the Blue-Green deployment canbe also used in a situation other than the above-described versionupgrade of the system. For example, this switching can be used when theenvironment that processes the requests is switched from a processingsystem where a failure or a bug occurs (in this case, the firstprocessing system) to another normally operating processing system (inthis case, the second processing system).

A system such as the above-described system may be, for example, plannedto be upgraded several times in a day. For such a system, because a nexttiming for the version upgrade comes soon, it is difficult to carry outthe above-described switching of the processing system in considerationof a transition of the amount of requests and the like.

Further, it may be impossible to largely postpone a date when the systemof the new version will be released, in view of a system operation.Therefore, even at the moment that a large number of requests arereceived from the external network and a heavy load for the processingis imposed on the first processing system, the processing for switchingthe processing system that processes these requests may have to beperformed for the version upgrade or the like.

When the load for the processing regarding the requests imposed on thefirst processing system is large, the above-described resource managerperforms the adjustment processing so that a large number of resourcesare provided to the load balancer or the like that processes therequests in the first processing system. On the other hand, theprocessing for adjusting the resources is not performed by the resourcemanager in the second processing system that is prepared in advance inanticipation of the switching for the version upgrade, because thesecond processing system does not yet receive the requests from theexternal network and does not process the received requests.

Further, the second processing system prepared in advance may include arelatively small resource amount in a case where the systemadministrator takes into consideration saving cost to maintain thesystem. Performing the above-described switching processing under such asituation results in the second processing system receiving a largenumber of requests at once. Then, a possible consequence therefrom isthat the second processing system falls behind in processing therequests if the resource manager cannot perform the processing foradjusting the resources in time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One disclosed aspect of the embodiments is directed to a managementsystem and a method for controlling the management system capable ofpreventing the second processing system from falling behind inprocessing the requests at the time of the processing for switching theprocessing system from the first processing system to the secondprocessing system.

According to an aspect of the embodiments, a management system includinga plurality of processing systems each including at least one or morevirtual machines each configured to process a request, and a loaddistribution device configured to distribute the request to the virtualmachine(s), includes an acquisition unit configured to acquireinformation regarding adjustment of an amount of resource to be used fora first processing system according to an instruction for switching aprocessing system that processes the request transmitted from apredetermined network system from the first processing system to asecond processing system included in the plurality of processingsystems, and an adjustment instruction unit configured to issue aninstruction for increasing the number of the virtual machines in thesecond processing system as an adjustment instruction to adjust anamount of resource in the second processing system based on theinformation acquired by the acquisition unit, wherein the processingsystem that processes the request transmitted from the predeterminednetwork system is switched from the first processing system to thesecond processing system according to the adjustment instruction issuedby the adjustment instruction unit.

Further features of the disclosure will become apparent from thefollowing description of exemplary embodiments with reference to theattached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an overview of a system configuration according to anexemplary embodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of aninformation processing apparatus.

FIGS. 3A and 3B each illustrate an example of a configuration of amanagement system.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a configuration of a resource manager.

FIG. 5 illustrates a resource information management table.

FIG. 6 illustrates a monitoring state management table.

FIG. 7 illustrates an auto-scaling state management table.

FIG. 8 illustrates a stack information management table.

FIGS. 9A, 9B, 9C, and 9D illustrate one example of a stack template.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing for switching areleased production environment.

FIGS. 11A, 11B, and 11C each are a flowchart illustrating a flow ofprocessing for adjusting a resource amount in a Green environment.

FIG. 12 illustrates one example of the stack template.

FIG. 13 illustrates a migration method table.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

In the following description, exemplary embodiments for embodying thedisclosure will be described with reference to the drawings.

The exemplary embodiments will be described based on a management systemthat manages a plurality of customers and a network device owned by eachof the customers from a remote place via a network, as a network systemconstructed with use of the cloud service, by way of example. Themanagement system collects device information and operation informationsuch as log information and failure information from the network deviceexisting in a customer network environment established for each of thecustomers to analyze them, thereby providing various device managementservices. More specifically, the management system provides a service ofreporting an operation status of the network device, and a servicenecessary to repair the network device at fault. The management systemis configured to receive requests to, for example, newly register anetwork device that will be handled as a management target, create areport, and register the log information of the network device via thenetwork or the like to provide the services.

Further, there may be a customer administrator to which the managementof the customer's device and the like is outsourced from the customer.In this case, the customer administrator manages the device owned byeach of the customers and provides various services to this customerwith use of the management system. Users of the management systeminclude the customer administrator and the customers.

FIG. 1 illustrates an overview of a configuration of an entire system. Amanagement system 100, which manages the network devices and customerinformation, and a plurality of customer environments 130, each of whichincludes the network device installed therein, are connected to eachother via a network such as the Internet. Further, a computer 110 forthe system administrator, which is used to manage the management system100, and a computer 120 for a person in charge in a sales company of thenetwork device (the customer administrator) are also connected to themanagement system 100 via the network.

The management system 100 is a system that is constructed with use of aplatform and a resource provided by the cloud service such as the IaaSand the PaaS, and provides a service for managing the network devicesand the customers owning them. As the resource, the cloud serviceprovides, for example, a plurality of virtual machines, a storage, andthe like that operate on a server computer existing in a data center inthe Internet. The virtual machines each are the logical computerestablished by dividing the server by the logical unit irrespective ofthe physical configuration with use of the virtualization technique, andconfigured so that each logical computer operates while having theindependent operating system. Execution of various application programson the plurality of virtual machines realizes various managementservices as the management system 100. Specific examples of the servicecontent include a service of managing the device information of thenetwork device installed in the customer environment 130 in associationwith the information about this customer when collecting this deviceinformation. Another example is a service of reporting for the customerand the person in charge in the sales company by collecting theoperation information such as the log information and the failureinformation of the network device installed in the customer environment130 and analyzing the collected operation information. Still anotherexample is a service of notifying the person in charge in the salescompany of information necessary to repair the network device at faultvia an electronic mail or the like. Examples of the network deviceinclude an image processing apparatus, such as a printer and a networkcamera. Types of the printer include an electrophotographic printer withuse of toner or the like, and an inkjet printer that prints data withuse of ink. The management system 100 can even collect the operationinformation specific to each of the printing methods (for example, atoner use amount and an ink use amount), and provide a differentmanagement service.

The computer 110 is a computer used by the system administrator, and candisplay a management screen for the administrator that is provided bythe management system 100, with use of an installed web browser or thelike. The system administrator can issue an instruction to transmit arequest for, for example, configuring various kinds of settings to themanagement system 100 via the management screen displayed on thecomputer 110. For example, the system administrator can issue aninstruction to transmit a request for generating the Green environmentfor the above-described Blue-Green deployment, or a request forswitching the request processing system from the Blue environment to theGreen environment. The processing system includes at least one or morevirtual machines configured to process the requests, and the loadbalancer that functions as the load distribution device configured todistribute the requests to the virtual machine(s).

The computer 120 is a computer used by the person in charge in the salescompany of the network device, and can display a screen for the personin charge that is provided by the management system 100, with use of aweb browser or the like. Examples of the screen for the person in chargethat is provided by the management system 100 include a screen thatallows the person in charge to confirm the operation information such asthe log information and the failure information of the network deviceinstalled in the customer environment 130. Besides that, the computer120 can also display a screen for configuring a setting of monitoringthe network device installed in the customer environment 130, as thescreen for the person in charge.

The customer environment 130 indicates a network environment that existsin the network for each of the customers managed by the managementsystem 100. In the customer environment 130, one or more network devicesowned by the customer, and a relay apparatus that relays communicationbetween the network devices and the management system 100 are connectedto each other via a local area network (LAN). The relay apparatus has afunction of searching for a network device in the network, and, iffinding any network device, and of generating and transmitting a requestfor notifying the management system 100 of the device information ofthis network device. Further, this relay apparatus has a function ofgenerating a request for notifying the management system 100 of theoperation information collected from the network device, andtransmitting the generated request. The present system may include aplurality of computers 120 and a plurality of customer environments 130.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of aninformation processing apparatus. The information processing apparatusaccording to the present exemplary embodiment corresponds to the servercomputer existing in the data center for realizing the management system100, the computer 110, the computer 120, a computer serving as the relayapparatus existing in each of the customer environments 130, and thelike.

The information processing apparatus includes a CPU 251 that executes aprogram stored in a read only memory (ROM) 253, and comprehensivelycontrols each device via an internal bus 256. A random access memory(RAM) 252, the ROM 253, a storage device 254, a network interface (I/F)255, and an input/output I/F 257 are connected to the internal bus 256.Further, the input/output I/F 257 includes, for example, a PS/2 or aUniversal Serial Bus (USB I/F), and an analog or digital display I/F.The input/output I/F 257 allows a keyboard, a mouse, a cathode-ray tube(CRT) or liquid crystal display, and the like, which are notillustrated, to be connected to the information processing apparatus.The information processing apparatus performs communication via the LAN,an intranet environment, or the Internet, with use of the network I/F255. This communication allows the information processing apparatus tocommunicate with the network device and another information processingapparatus. The CPU 251 performs processing for executing the programtogether with the RAM 252 and the ROM 253. Further, the CPU 251 can alsoexecute a program for realizing the virtualization technique. Further,the CPU 251 performs processing for recording data into a recordingmedium such as the storage device 254. The storage device 254 functionsas an external storage device. Besides storing various kinds ofinformation, the storage device 254 can also store various kinds ofsystem information and processing information in place of the RAM 252.

FIGS. 3A and 3B each illustrate an example of a configuration of themanagement system 100. The management system 100 is constructed andmanaged by the system administrator who operates the computer 110, andprocesses the requests transmitted from the computer 120 operated by thecustomer administrator, and the network devices and the relayapparatuses in the customer environments 130 to provide the services.

FIG. 3A illustrates the management system 100 before a Green environment350 is generated. In FIG. 3A, the management system 100 includes asystem manager 300, a Domain Name System (DNS) 301, a database 302, aresource manager 303, and a Blue environment 330. On the other hand,FIG. 3B illustrates the management system 100 after the Greenenvironment 350 is generated. The configuration of the management system100 illustrated in FIG. 3B is the configuration of the management system100 illustrated in FIG. 3A with the Green environment 350 added thereto.The Green environment 350 replaces the Blue environment 330 to becomethe released production environment after an operation check and a testis conducted. Processing for switching the released productionenvironment will be described below with reference to FIG. 10.

Address information, such as an Internet Protocol (IP) address, and ahost name of each of the virtual machines and the load balancer areregistered in the DNS 301. The computer 110 for the systemadministrator, the computer 120 for the customer administrator, and thecomputers and the network devices in the customer environments 130communicate with the DNS 301 via the network, such as the Internet.These computers and network devices inquire for the address informationcorresponding to the host name of the load balancer in the processingsystem, which is set as a connection destination for the requests, tothe DNS 301, and transmit the requests to the address informationreturned from the DNS 301. In response to the received inquiries, theDNS 301 returns the host name or the address information indicating theload balancer in the processing system, which is set as the connectiondestination for the requests, with use of a DNS record associated with aDNS name. Each of the virtual machines included in the management system100 has the address information, such as a unique IP address. Therefore,the address information of this load balancer can be identified based onthe address information of the virtual machine serving as the loadbalancer.

The database 302 stores a program for realizing the present managementsystem 100, various kinds of data for providing the services, respectivetables illustrated in FIGS. 5 to 8 and 13, which will be describedbelow, and the like.

The system manager 300 receives, for example, a request regarding asetting of the processing system in the management system 100 from thecomputer 110 for the system administrator. The system manager 300 issuesan instruction to the resource manager 303 based on the request from thesystem administrator. For example, the system manager 300 issues aninstruction to generate a resource that forms a processing system andthe processing system using this resource, and an adjustment instructionfor adjusting a resource amount.

The resource manager 303 generates or deletes the resource that formsthe processing system, and performs the processing for adjusting theresource amount in the management system 100, based on the instructionfrom the system manager 300. The adjustment of the resource amountincludes, for example, the scaling-out, which increases the number ofvirtual machines, and the scaling-up, which increases the allocation ofthe hardware resources to the virtual machine. Further, the adjustmentof the resource amount also includes the scaling-in, which reduces thenumber of virtual machines, and the scaling-down, which reduces theallocation of the hardware resources to the virtual machine. Thehardware resources are the CPU (the number of cores), the memory (asize), the storage (a size), and the like.

The resource manager 303 can also automatically adjust the resourceamount by monitoring an amount of requests transmitted to the Blueenvironment 330. The amount of requests means the number of requestsreceived by a load balancer 331 in the Blue environment 330 per unittime. Further, the resource manager 303 may be configured toautomatically adjust the resource amount by monitoring a processing loadimposed on the Blue environment 330. The processing load means the loadspent for the processing in the virtual machine, and refers to the CPUusage rate and the memory usage rate, the time taken to return aresponse, and the like of the virtual machine. The term “auto-scaling”is used to refer to the adjustment of the resource amount that iscarried out by the resource manager 303 when the monitored amount ofrequests or the monitored processing load meets a preset condition.

Further, the resource manager 303 switches the released productionenvironment by, for example, rewriting the DNS record registered in theDNS 301 according to an instruction from the system manager 300. Amethod for switching the released production environment will bedescribed in detail in paragraphs describing a switching unit 405illustrated in FIG. 4.

The Blue environment 330 is a processing system where the application ofthe current version runs, and includes the load balancer 331, virtualmachines 332 and 334, and a queue 333. An application running in theGreen environment 350 is the application of the upgraded version with atleast one function added or extended compared to the application runningin the Blue environment 330. The Green environment 350 is a processingsystem including a load balancer 351, virtual machines 352 and 354, anda queue 353. Each of the Blue environment 330 and the Green environment350 may include, for example, a plurality of load balancers 331 or 351,pluralities of virtual machines 332 and 334, or 352 and 354.

In the Blue environment 330, the load balancer 331 is a loaddistribution device that distributes the received requests to thevirtual machine 332. The distribution may follow some balancingcriteria, such as equality balancing. The virtual machine 332 is arequest processing system in the Blue environment 330, and a web serveror the like that receives and processes the requests. The queue 333 is aqueue for managing messages corresponding to the requests processed bythe virtual machine 332. The virtual machine 334 is a batch processingsystem in the Blue environment 330, and a batch server or the like thatprocesses (performs batch processing on) the queued messages in thequeue 333. The request processing by the virtual machine 332 and thebatch processing by the virtual machine 334 are performedasynchronously.

In the Green environment 350, the load balancer 351 is a loaddistribution device that distributes the received requests to thevirtual machine(s) 352. The distribution may follow some balancingcriteria, such as equality balancing. The virtual machine 352 is arequest processing system in the Green environment 350, and a web serveror the like that receives and processes the requests. The queue 353 is aqueue for managing messages corresponding to the requests processed bythe virtual machine 352. The virtual machine 354 is a batch processingsystem in the Green environment 350, and a batch server or the like thatprocesses (performs the batch processing on) the queued messages in thequeue 353. The request processing by the virtual machine 352 and thebatch processing by the virtual machine 354 are performedasynchronously.

The management system 100 can also include a plurality of Greenenvironments 350. When switching the released production environment,the system administrator can also select one of the plurality ofprepared Green environments 350.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a configuration of the resource manager303 according to the present exemplary embodiment. The resource manager303 includes a resource generation unit 401, a resource monitoring unit402, an auto-scaling management unit 403, a stack reception unit 404,and a switching unit 405.

The resource generation unit 401 receives the request issued from thesystem administrator to the resources of the management system 100, andgenerates the virtual machines 332, 334, 352, and 354, and servercomponents based on the request. The system administrator can requestthe resource generation unit 401 to generate the virtual machines 332,334, 352, and 354 and make them usable. The resource generation unit 401receives the request from the system administrator by various kinds ofmethods. For example, the resource generation unit 401 may be configuredto receive the request from the system administrator with use of agraphical user interface (GUI), an application programming interface(API), or the like provided by the management system 100. The requestfrom the system administrator includes the number, types, and the likeof the virtual machines 332, 334, 352, and 354.

The virtual machines 332, 334, 352, and 354 each can include anoperating system (OS), an application server, a system and applicationconfiguration, and the like selectable by the system administrator. Theserver components include the load balancers 331 and 351, the queues 333and 353, and the like, but are not limited thereto. After the managementsystem 100 generates the virtual machines 332, 334, 352, and 354 thatsatisfy the request from the system administrator, the systemadministrator can change settings of the virtual machines 332, 334, 352,and 354. For example, the system administrator can change an amount or atype of a storage device or a network bandwidth relating to each of thevirtual machines 332, 334, 352, and 354.

The resource monitoring unit 402 monitors statuses, capabilities, andthe like of the virtual machines 332, 334, 352, and 354, and the servercomponents. For example, the resource monitoring unit 402 monitors thenumber of requests per unit time for each of the load balancers 331 and351, the CPU usage rate, the memory usage rate, and/or the like for eachof the virtual machines 332, 334, 352, and 354, and the number ofunprocessed messages and/or the like for each of the queues 333 and 353,as a monitored item. The resource monitoring unit 402 is connected tothe Blue environment 330 and the Green environment 350, and acquiresinformation about the above-described monitored item. At this time, theresource monitoring unit 402 is connected to the Blue environment 330and the Green environment 350 via a network (not illustrated) in themanagement system 100.

If the monitored item meets a condition predetermined by the systemadministrator (defined in a stack template illustrated in FIG. 9B, whichwill be described below) as a result of the monitoring, the resourcemonitoring unit 402 issues an Alarm event. The auto-scaling managementunit 403 receives the Alarm event, and generates the virtual machine(s),the server component(s), or the like in response to this Alarm event.

The auto-scaling management unit 403 manages the auto-scaling of thevirtual machines 332, 334, 352, and 354, and the server components. Theauto-scaling management unit 403 manages the virtual machines 332, 334,352, and 354, and the server components, which are handled as targets ofthe auto-scaling, in group units. This group will be referred to as anauto-scaling group herein. For example, the auto-scaling management unit403 manages the plurality of existing virtual machines 332 as oneauto-scaling group.

The auto-scaling management unit 403 connects the virtual machines 332,334, 352, and 354 belonging to the auto-scaling groups to the loadbalancers 331 and 351, respectively, and the auto-scaling groups areassociated with the load balancers 331 and 351, respectively. The loadbalancers 331 and 351 transmit the requests received from outside whiledistributing these requests to the virtual machines 332 and 352,respectively, and the virtual machines 332 and 352 process the receivedrequests.

The auto-scaling management unit 403 controls the auto-scaling so thatthe number of the virtual machines, or the server components belongingto the auto-scaling group and being in operation matches the number ofdevices set as the number of required devices. The number of requireddevices is determined based on the request from the systemadministrator. The number of required devices may be set in advance by avendor of the cloud service.

If the number of operating devices is smaller than the number ofrequired devices, the auto-scaling management unit 403 requests theresource generation unit 401 to generate the virtual machine(s), andadds the generated virtual machine(s), or the like to the correspondingauto-scaling group. If the auto-scaling group is associated with theload balancer 331 or 351, the auto-scaling management unit 403 connectsthe added virtual machine(s) to the corresponding load balancer 331 or351.

On the other hand, if the number of operating devices is larger than thenumber of required devices, the auto-scaling management unit 403 deletesthe virtual machine(s) from the auto-scaling group, and requests theresource generation unit 401 to stop the virtual machine(s). If theauto-scaling group is associated with the load balancer 331 or 351, theauto-scaling management unit 403 requests a termination of theconnection between the virtual machine(s) that the auto-scalingmanagement unit 403 attempts to delete, and the corresponding loadbalancer 331 or 351. The load balancer 331 or 351 stops transmitting therequest to the virtual machine(s) that the auto-scaling management unit403 attempts to delete, and terminates the connection between thisvirtual machine(s) and the load balancer 331 or 351 after a currentlyprocessed request is cleared. The auto-scaling management unit 403requests the resource generation unit 401 to stop the virtual machine332 or 352 after the virtual machine 332 or 352 is disconnected from theload balancer 331 or 351.

Further, a term “auto-scaling policy” will be used herein to refer toprocessing for setting the number of required devices in theauto-scaling group when the resource monitoring unit 402 issues theAlarm event. The system administrator specifies the number of requireddevices so as to, for example, increase the number of required devicesby one, reduce the number of required devices by one, or set the numberof required devices to 20. The resource monitoring unit 402 contributesto the adjustment of the resource amount according to the request fromthe system administrator. Further, the auto-scaling management unit 403manages information about an auto-scaling state. The information aboutthe auto-scaling state includes the number of virtual machines, aspecification(s) thereof, an auto-scaling operation performed last time,and the like.

The stack reception unit 404 receives the request to generate or deletethe virtual machine(s), the server component(s), and the like from thesystem administrator with use of the API or the like by the computer110. At this time, the stack reception unit 404 receives the stacktemplate, and requests the resource generation unit 401 to generate thevirtual machine(s), and the server component(s) written in the stacktemplate. The stack template is a template in which the request from thesystem administrator is written with respect to the generation of thevirtual machine(s), and the server component(s). The stack template willbe described below with reference to FIGS. 9A to 9D. A stack refers to acollection of the virtual machines, and the server components generatedbased on a same stack template. In the present example, each of thegeneration of the virtual machine(s) and the server component(s) in theBlue environment 330, and the generation of the virtual machines and theserver component(s) in the Green environment is written in a singlestack template.

The stack reception unit 404 receives the stack template configured asdescribed above, and requests the resource generation unit 401 togenerate the virtual machine(s), and the server component(s). Further,the stack reception unit 404 adds the monitoring conditions to theresource monitoring unit 402, and registers the information regardingthe auto-scaling with the auto-scaling management unit 403. Theprocessing at this time results in the generation of the Greenenvironment 350 illustrated in FIG. 3B.

When the instruction to switch the environment is issued from the systemadministrator, the switching unit 405 receives specified stackidentifications (IDs) 801 of the Blue environment 330 and the Greenenvironment 350, acquires the information regarding the adjustment ofthe resource amount in the Blue environment 330, and then reflects theacquired information in the Green environment 350. After completion ofthe processing for adjusting the resources in the Green environment 350,the switching unit 405 changes the setting of the DNS 301, therebyswitching the released production environment from the Blue environment330 to the Green environment 350.

The switching unit 405 switches the released production environment fromthe Blue environment 330 to the Green environment 350. The switching ofthe released production environment is realized by, for example, achange in the record in the DNS 301 from a record indicating the Blueenvironment 330 to a record indicating the Green environment 350. Forexample, in a case where the host name of the service iswww.a-service.com, the following record is registered while the Blueenvironment 330 is serving as the released production environment:www.a-service.com CNAME 1b-R01.cloudservice.com. In this record,1b-R01.cloudservice.com is the host name of the load balancer 331 in theBlue environment 330. This host name of the load balancer 331 isrewritten into 1b-R02.cloudservice.com, which is the host name of theload balancer 351 in the Green environment 350, when the releasedproduction environment is switched. The record in the DNS 301 is changedto the following record: www.a-service.com CNAME1b-R02.cloudservice.com. Changing the record in the DNS 301 in thismanner allows the switching unit 405 to switch the service that is theconnection destination from the Blue environment 330 to the Greenenvironment 350 without changing a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) foraccess from the computer 120 and the like connected from outside themanagement system 100.

Further, the resource manager 303 rewrites the DNS record registered inthe DNS 301 according to the instruction from the system manager 300.Rewriting the DNS record causes a change in the connection destinationfor the requests from a predetermined network such as the computer 120for the customer manager, and the computers and the network devices inthe customer environments 130, thereby allowing the released productionenvironment to be switched.

Examples of the method for changing the connection destination for therequests include a method that prepares a load balancer or a reverseproxy as an access point, and a method that rewrites the URL foraccessing the system, besides the above-described method.

FIG. 5 illustrates a resource information management table according tothe present exemplary embodiment. Numbers placed at a right end of thetable indicates record numbers, and the same applies to the respectivetables illustrated in FIGS. 6 to 8 and 13. Items of the resourceinformation management table include a resource ID 501, a type 502, anda tag 503. The resource generation unit 401 manages resourceinformation, for example, as indicated by records 511 to 523. Theresources mean the resources provided by the cloud service, and includethe virtual machines 332, 334, 352, and 354, and the server components.

The resource ID 501 is an identifier for identifying the resourcegenerated by the resource generation unit 401. The type 502 indicates atype of the resource generated by the resource generation unit 401.Examples of the type of the resource include the virtual machine, theload balancer, and the queue. The tag 503 is a pair of a key and avalue, and information added to the resource. A “Role” attributeindicates a role of the virtual machine(s), or the server component(s)in the processing system, and a value such as “Web” and “Batch” is settherefor. Further, a “Version” attribute is a key used to identify themanagement system 100, and indicates the version suggesting, forexample, which environment the resource exists in, the Blue environment330 or the Green environment 350. These items are referred to when thereleased production environment is switched, which will be describedbelow.

FIG. 6 illustrates a monitoring state management table according to thepresent exemplary embodiment. The resource monitoring unit 402 managesinformation about a state of monitoring the resource, for example, asindicated by records 611 to 618. Items of the monitoring statemanagement table include a monitoring condition name 601, a monitoredresource 602, a monitored item 603, a previously measured value 604, anda number of successive times 605.

The monitoring condition name 601 is a name for identifying themonitoring condition. In the case of the monitoring condition generatedby the stack reception unit 404, which will be described below, thestack ID 801 is added at the beginning of a character string indicatingthe monitoring condition name 601. The monitored resource 602 isinformation indicating the monitored resource that the resourcemonitoring unit 402 monitors. The monitored item 603 is informationindicating the monitored item that the resource monitoring unit 402monitors. For example, in the record 611, the monitored item 603indicates that the resource monitoring unit 402 monitors the number ofmessages stored in a queue 333 or 353 identified by “R04”. Thepreviously measured value 604 is a value acquired by the resourcemonitoring unit 402 at the time of previous measurement with respect tothe monitored item 603 indicated in this record. The number ofsuccessive times 605 is the number of times that the same monitoringcondition is satisfied in a row. For example, the number of successivetimes 605 is used, for example, when the management system 100 is set tonotify the system administrator if the same monitoring condition issatisfied twice in a row at an interval of 300 seconds.

FIG. 7 illustrates an auto-scaling state management table according tothe present exemplary embodiment. The auto-scaling management unit 403manages the information regarding the auto-scaling of the auto-scalinggroup or the server component, for example, as indicated by records 711to 718. Items of the auto-scaling state management table include anauto-scaling management ID 701, a type 702, a number of required devices703, a number of operating devices 704, a specification 705, anoperation performed last time 706, and a tag 707.

The auto-scaling management ID 701 is an ID of the auto-scaling group orthe resource ID of the server component that should be managed in termsof the auto-scaling state. In the case of the auto-scaling groupgenerated by the stack reception unit 404, the stack ID 801 is added atthe beginning of a character string indicating the auto-scalingmanagement ID. The type 702 stores a type of the resource that is atarget of the auto-scaling management, which is specified with theauto-scaling management ID 701. Examples of the type of the resourceinclude the auto-scaling group, the load balancer, and the queue.

The number of required devices 703 is the number of virtual machinesdefined to be necessary in the auto-scaling group. The number ofoperating devices 704 is the number of virtual machines associated withthe auto-scaling group and being in operation. The auto-scalingmanagement unit 403 controls the number of operating devices 704 so thatthe number of operating devices 704 matches the number of requireddevices 703. The specification 705 indicates a processing capability ofthe virtual machines.

The operation performed last time 706 is a control command held as theoperation performed last time by the auto-scaling management unit 403 onthe auto-scaling group, the server component, or the like. The tag 707is a tag added to the auto-scaling group or the server componentspecified with the auto-scaling management ID 701. A “Role” attributeand a “Version” attribute are similar to the “Role” attribute and the“Version” attribute described in the description of the tag 503,respectively.

For example, the server component such as the load balancer and thequeue, or the like may be set in advance by the cloud service vendor,and provided to the system administrator as a managed service. In such acase, the management system 100 may refrain from disclosing the settingand the state of the auto-scaling to the system administrator. Further,the management system 100 may be configured in such a manner that thesystem administrator does not configure the setting regarding theauto-scaling function, and the management system 100 automatically setsand manages the auto-scaling.

FIG. 8 illustrates a stack information management table according to thepresent exemplary embodiment. Upon receiving the request to generate thestack, the stack reception unit 404 generates the stack ID 801 foridentifying the stack, and manages the stack ID 801 in association withthe generated virtual machine, the generated server component, and othersetting information. The stack reception unit 404 holds the stacktemplate in association with the stack ID 801, for example, as indicatedby records 811 to 823. Items of the stack information management tableinclude the stack ID 801 and a resource ID 802.

The stack ID 801 is an identifier of the stack that is issued by thestack reception unit 404. The resource ID 802 is an identifier of theresource of the virtual machine 332, 334, 352, or 354, or the servercomponent generated in association with the stack. If the systemadministrator specifies deletion of the stack, the stack reception unit404 refers to the stack information management table, and requestsdeletion of the resources associated with the stack. Further, the stackreception unit 404 requests deletion of the various kinds of settinginformation registered by the resource monitoring unit 402 and theauto-scaling management unit 403 in the respective tables illustrated inFIGS. 5 to 7.

The system administrator can construct the processing system whilecombining a plurality of stacks. For example, the system administratorcan combine a stack including a database server or the like that willnot be replaced at the time of the version upgrade of the system, and astack including a web server or the like that will be replaced at thetime of the version upgrade.

FIGS. 9A, 9B, 9C, and 9D illustrate the stack template according to thepresent exemplary embodiment. The stack reception unit 404 receives thestack template from, for example, the computer 110 operated by thesystem administrator. Numbers placed at a left end indicate linenumbers, and the same applies to a stack template illustrated in FIG.12. FIG. 9A illustrates line 2 to line 53 in the stack template. FIG. 9Billustrates a line 54 to line 97 in the stack template. FIG. 9Cillustrates line 98 to line 140 in the stack template. FIG. 9Dillustrates line 141 to line 185 in the stack template. In the followingdescription, the stack template will be described, extracting portionsrelevant to the present exemplary embodiment. The virtual machines, andthe server components to be generated as the stack, the setting of theauto-scaling function, and the like are specified in line 2 to line 185.

Generation of a load balancer named WebLB is specified, and the valuesof the “Role” attribute and the “Version” attribute are specified to be“Web” and “100”, respectively, as the tag, in line 3 to line 25illustrated in FIG. 9A. The stack reception unit 404 requests theresource generation unit 401 to generate a load balancer. Theinformation about the generated load balancer is registered into theresource information management table (FIG. 5), and the associationbetween the stack ID 801 and the resource ID 802 is registered into thestack information management table (FIG. 8). An auto-scaling group namedWebAutoScalingGroup is set in line 26 to line 46. The connection targetis specified to be the load balancer : WebLB, and a minimum number(MinSize) and a maximum number (MaxSize) of the virtual machines arespecified to be 2 and 10, respectively. The number of initially requireddevices (DesiredCapacity) is specified to be 2, and a launch setting(LaunchConfigurationName) of the virtual machine is specified to be“WebLaunchConfig”. The values of the “Role” attribute and the “Version”attribute are specified to be “Web” and “100”, respectively, as the tag.

The launch of the virtual machine named “WebLaunchConfig” specified inWebAutoScalingGroup is set in line 47 to line 53. Use of “imageWeb100”as an OS image (ImagelD) is specified, and “Large” is specified as aninstance type (InstanceType), which specifies the specification of theCPU, the memory, and the like.

In this example of the stack template, the stack reception unit 404registers the auto-scaling group S01_WebAutoScalingGroup to theauto-scaling management unit 403, and sets the number of requireddevices to 2 (adds the stack ID 801 at the beginning of the characterstring). Since the number of operating devices is 0 while the number ofrequired devises is set to 2, the auto-scaling management unit 403generates the virtual machine 332 or 352 based on WebLaunchConfig to addthe generated virtual machine to the auto-scaling group until the numberof operating devices reaches the number of required devices.

Auto-scaling policies associated with the auto-scaling group namedWebAutoScalingGroup are specified in a line 54 to line 71 in FIG. 9B.WebScaleUpPolicy is specified so as to cause the operation of increasingthe number of required devices by one (“ScalingAdjustment”: “1”) to beexecuted. Further, WebScaleDownPolicy is specified so as to cause theoperation of reducing the number of required devices by one(“ScalingAdjustment”: “−1”) to be executed. WebScaleUpPolicy is theinstruction for the setting of the virtual server group that the stackreception unit 404 configures based on the stack template.

Monitoring and notification conditions associated with the auto-scalinggroup named WebAutoScalingGroup are set in line 72 to a line 97illustrated in FIG. 9B.

In WebCPUAlarmHigh, an average of the CPU usage rate (“CPUUtilization”)is specified to be monitored as the monitored item (MetricName) withrespect to “WebAutoScalingGroup”. Then, the adjustment of the resourcesis specified to be carried out with reference to the auto-scaling policynamed “WebScaleUpPolicy” specified in AlarmAction, if the average of theCPU usage rate exceeds 90%, which is a threshold value, twice at theinterval of 300 seconds.

In this example of the stack template, the stack reception unit 404registers the monitoring condition S01_WebCPUAlarmHigh and the like inthe resource monitoring unit 402.

A queue that should be generated is specified in line 98 to line 113 inFIG. 9C. In this example, generation of a queue named “BatchQueue” isspecified. The values of the “Role” attribute and the “Version”attribute are specified to be “Batch” and “100”, respectively, as thetag.

In this example of the stack template, the stack reception unit 404requests the resource generation unit 401 to generate the queue. Theinformation about the generated queue is registered into the resourceinformation management table (FIG. 5), and the association between thestack ID 801 and the resource ID 802 is stored into the stackinformation management table (FIG. 8).

An auto-scaling group named BatchAutoScalingGroup is specified, and aminimum number (MinSize) and a maximum number (MaxSize) of the virtualmachines are specified to be 1 and 10, respectively, in line 114 to line133 in FIG. 9C. The number of initially required devices(DesiredCapacity) is specified to be 1, and a launch setting(LaunchConfigurationName) of the virtual machine is specified to be“BatchLaunchConfig”. The values of the “Role” attribute and the“Version” attribute are specified to be “Batch” and “100”, respectively,as the tag. BatchLaunchConfig is the instruction for the setting of thebatch processing system that sequentially performs processes accumulatedin the queue that correspond to the received requests.

The launch of the virtual machine named “BatchLaunchConfig” specified inBatchAutoScalingGroup is set in line 134 to the line 140 in FIG. 9C.

Auto-scaling policies associated with the auto-scaling group namedBatchAutoScalingGroup are specified in line 141 to line 158 illustratedin FIG. 9D. BatchScaleUpPolicy is specified so as to cause the operationof increasing the number of required devices by one(“ScalingAdjustment”: “1”) to be executed. Further, BatchScaleDownPolicyis specified so as to cause the operation of reducing the number ofrequired device(s) 703 by one (“ScalingAdjustment”: “−1”) to beexecuted.

Monitoring and notification conditions associated with the auto-scalinggroup named BatchAutoScalingGroup are specified in line 159 to line 184.In BatchOueueAlarmHigh, an average of the number of messages(“NumberOfMessages”) is set to be monitored as the monitored item(MetricName) with respect to “BatchQueue”. Then, the auto-scaling policynamed “BatchScaleUpPolicy” specified in AlarmAction is set to be carriedout, if the average of the number of messages exceeds 100, which is athreshold value, twice at the interval of 300 seconds.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of the processing forswitching the released production environment according to the presentexemplary embodiment. The resource manager 303 performs the processingfor switching the released production environment.

In step S1001, the resource manager 303 starts the processing foradjusting the resource amount in the Green environment 350 in responseto the instruction from the system manager 300. In step S1002, theresource manager 303 receives, from the system administrator, an inputspecifying the Blue environment 330 and the Green environment 350 thatare switching targets. The system administrator specifies the Blueenvironment 330 and the Green environment 350 that are the switchingtargets by operating the computer 110, and the switching unit 405receives the request including this input specifying the Blue and Greenenvironments 330 and 350.

As a method for specifying the Blue and Green environments 330 and 350,the system administrator may specify the respective stack IDs 801 of theBlue environment 330 and the Green environment 350, or may specify theBlue environment 330 and the Green environment 350 with Keys and Valuesof the tags thereof. Key is the attribute of the tag, and Value is thevalue of the attribute. If the system administrator specifies the Blueenvironment 330 and the Green environment 350 with the stack IDs 801,the system administrator specifies the Blue environment 330 and theGreen environment 350 by, for example, specifying S01 and S02 as thestack IDs 801 of the Blue environment 330 and the Green environment 350,respectively. The system administrator may specify a plurality of stacksat a time. If the system administrator specifies the tag, the systemadministrator uses Key indicating “Version” to identify the tag, andspecifies the Blue environment 330 and the Green environment 350 by, forexample, specifying “100” and “101” for the Blue environment 330 and theGreen environment 350, respectively.

Hereinafter, the present flowchart will be described assuming that “100”and “101” are set for Key of the Blue environment 330 and Key of theGreen environment 350, respectively, by way of example. Further, in thiscase, the ID of the stack that the auto-scaling group, the virtualmachines, and the server components belong to can be acquired from thehead of the character string indicating the auto-scaling management ID701, the stack ID 801, or the like.

In step S1003, the switching unit 405 acquires the information about theauto-scaling states in the specified Blue environment 330 and Greenenvironment 350 from the auto-scaling management unit 403. As theinformation with respect to the Green environment 350, the “Version”attribute is indicated as “101”. At this time, the switching unit 405acquires information regarding the adjustment of the resource amountincluding (“Version”: “101”) in the tag 707 (the records 715 to 718)from the auto-scaling state management table (FIG. 7). The switchingunit 405 may acquire only the information with respect to the specifiedBlue environment 330. Further, the information with respect to the Blueenvironment 330 and the Green environment 350 may be stored in thedatabase 302 in the management system 100, or may be stored in a storagedevice prepared outside the management system 100.

Subsequently, the resource manager 303 repeats processing from stepsS1004 to S1007 for each of the auto-scaling groups and the servercomponents in the Green environment 350. In step S1007, the processingexits the loop upon completion of the processing on all of theauto-scaling groups and the server components.

In step S1005, the switching unit 405 disables the automatic adjustmentfunction based on the auto-scaling policy. The disabled automaticadjustment function may be only the automatic adjustment function basedon the auto-scaling policy defining the scaling-in or the scaling-down.The auto-scaling policy handled as a target of the scaling-in is theauto-scaling policy specifying a negative value as the number of virtualmachines to be added or deleted (ScalingAdjustment) in the setting ofthe auto-scaling. A timing of disabling the automatic adjustmentfunction is not limited to step S1005, and may be any timing during aperiod from the generation of the Green environment 350 until the startof the processing for adjusting the resource amount in the Greenenvironment 350.

When the released production environment is switched from the Blueenvironment 330 to the Green environment 350, the number of virtualmachines in the Green environment 350 should be increased and/or theserver component(s) in the Green environment 350 should be scaled up ina state where only a light load is imposed on the Green environment 350.Disabling the auto-scaling policy defining the scaling-in prevents theAlarm calling the scaling-in from being issued after the resources inthe Green environment 350 is increased, and thus the number of virtualmachines in the Green environment 350 from being reduced and/or theserver component(s) in the Green environment 350 from being scaled down.Further, the switching unit 405 may be also configured to set theapplication of the auto-scaling policy to the auto-scaling group so asto be disabled for a certain predetermined time period, when theauto-scaling policy is applied to the auto-scaling group.

Subsequently, in step S1006, the resource generation unit 401 performsthe processing for adjusting the resource amount in the Greenenvironment 350. The processing for adjusting the resource amount in theGreen environment 350 will be described below with reference to FIG.11A.

If the processing is completed for all of the auto-scaling groups andthe server components in step S1007, the processing proceeds to stepS1008.

In step S1008, the switching unit 405 performs the processing forswitching the released production environment from the Blue environment330 to the Green environment 350. The switching unit 405 switches thereleased production environment by the method described above in theparagraphs describing the switching unit 405. In particular, theprocessing for switching the released production environment refers to,for example, the processing for changing the record in the DNS 301 fromthe record indicating the Blue environment 330 to the record indicatingthe Green environment 350. This processing results in the switching ofthe released production environment that receives and processes therequests transmitted from the external network. Further, after switchingthe released production environment, the switching unit 405 enables theautomatic adjustment function disabled in step S1005.

FIG. 11A is a flowchart illustrating a flow of the processing foradjusting the resource amount in the Green environment 350 according tothe present exemplary embodiment, and illustrates a flow of processingfor adjusting the resource amount in the Green environment 350 with useof a migration method based on “application of the number of requireddevices”. The processing for adjusting the resource amount in the Greenenvironment 350 is performed for each of the auto-scaling groups and theserver components in the Green environment 350.

The “application of the number of required devices” means a migrationmethod that applies the number of virtual machines required in the Blueenvironment 330 to the Green environment 350. In steps S1101 to S1104,the resource manager 303 performs the processing for adjusting theresource amount in the Green environment 350 by the migration methodbased on the “application of the number of required devices”. The“application of the number of required devices” is suitable in the caseof application to, for example, the auto-scaling group including aplurality of virtual machines.

In step S1102, the switching unit 405 acquires the number of requireddevices 703 of the auto-scaling group or the server component in theBlue environment 330 in which the value of the “Role” attribute is thesame as the value set to the auto-scaling group, the server component,or the like that is a repetition target.

The switching unit 405 searches for the auto-scaling group or the servercomponent for which the tag indicating the Blue environment 330 (the“Version” attribute is “100”) is contained in the tag 707, and the valueof the “Role” attribute is the same, from the auto-scaling managementunit 403. For example, in the case of the auto-scaling groupS02_WebAutoScalingGroup, the value of the “Role” attribute is “Web”.Therefore, the switching unit 405 selects S01_WebAutoScalingGroup in therow 711, for which (“Role”: “Web”) and (“Version”: “100”) are containedin the tag 707, and the same type is specified in the type 702. Theswitching unit 405 acquires “5”, which is the value of the number ofrequired devices 703 of S01_WebAutoScalingGroup.

Subsequently, in step S1103, the resource generation unit 401 adjuststhe resource amount with respect to the auto-scaling group or the servercomponent in the Green environment 350. For example, “5” is set as thenumber of required devices 703 of the auto-scaling groupS02_WebAutoScalingGroup (the record 715). More specifically, the numberof required devices 703 of the auto-scaling group or the servercomponent in the Green environment 350 is set based on the number ofrequired devices of the auto-scaling group or the server component inthe Blue environment 330, which has been acquired in step S1102. Theauto-scaling management unit 403 detects that the number of operatingdevices (=2) of the auto-scaling group S02_WebAutoScalingGroup does notreach the number of required devices (=5). Then, the auto-scalingmanagement unit 403 adds, to the auto-scaling group, the virtual machine352 generated according to the launch setting (WebLaunchConfig) of thevirtual machine 352 for WebAutoScalingGroup in the stack S02 that theauto-scaling group belongs to. The number of operating devices 704reaches “5” in the end, by which the number of required devices 703 inthe Blue environment 330 is applied to the Green environment 350.

The number of required devices 703 in the Blue environment 330 does nothave to be applied to the Green environment 350 as it exactly is as thenumber of required devices 703 in the Blue environment 330. For example,the number of required devices 703 in the Green environment 350 may beset based on the number of required devices 703 in the Blue environment330 and the information indicating the specification 705 of the virtualmachines in the Green environment 350.

The number of virtual machines put into operation may be larger than thenumber of devices required to process the load imposed on the Blueenvironment 330, so as to allow the Blue environment 330 serving as thecurrent released production environment to have a generous processingcapability including some extra. In this case, the switching unit 405may set the number of required devices 703 in the Green environment 350in consideration thereof.

The system manager 300 may predict the amount of requests when thereleased production environment will be switched, based on the amount ofrequests received by the Blue environment 330 during a predeterminedtime period before the released production environment is switched. Forexample, the system manager 300 calculates a slope that represents anincrease or a decrease in the amount of requests at the time of theacquisition of the information regarding the adjustment of the resourceamount in the Blue environment 330, with use of a graph indicating thenumber of requests per unit time. The system manager 300 may determinethe number of required devices in the Green environment 350 further inconsideration of the increase or the reduction in the number of requestsin addition to the number of required devices in the Blue environment330. The same applies to application examples that will be describedbelow.

In step S1104, the processing returns to the flowchart of FIG. 10, andproceeds to the next step.

In the present exemplary embodiment, before the released productionenvironment is switched from the first processing system to the secondprocessing system, the number of virtual machines in the secondprocessing system that is the processing system to which the releasedproduction environment is switched is adjusted so as to match the numberof virtual machines in the first processing system. The presentexemplary embodiment can prevent the second processing system fromfalling behind in processing the requests when the released productionenvironment is switched.

A second exemplary embodiment is basically similar to the firstexemplary embodiment, and therefore only a difference therebetween willbe described. In the processing for adjusting the resource amount in theGreen environment 350 in step S1006, the migration method based on the“application of the number of required devices” is used in the firstexemplary embodiment, but a migration method based on “application of aload state” is used in the present exemplary embodiment. In the presentexemplary embodiment, information indicating the monitored amount ofrequests or the monitored processing load is used for the processing foradjusting the resource amount in the Green environment 350.

FIG. 11B is a flowchart illustrating a flow of the processing in theGreen environment 350 according to the present exemplary embodiment, andillustrates an example of a flow of the processing for adjusting theresource amount in the Green environment 350 by the migration methodbased on the “application of the load state”. The processing foradjusting the resource amount in the Green environment 350 is performedfor each of the auto-scaling groups and the server components in theGreen environment 350.

The “application of the load state” means a migration method thatapplies the information indicating the load state in the Blueenvironment 330 to the Green environment 350. In steps S1111 to S1115,the resource manager 303 performs the processing for adjusting theresource amount in the Green environment 350 by the migration methodbased on the “application of the load state”. The “application of theload state” is suitable in a case where it is not appropriate to use themethod that applies the number of required devices 703in the Blueenvironment 330 thereto as it is, such as when there is a differencebetween the Green environment 350 and the Blue environment 330 in termsof the server configuration, the specification of the virtual machine,and/or the like. The “application of the load state” can be also used ina case where the information indicating the number of required devices703 cannot be acquired.

In step S1112, the switching unit 405 acquires the informationindicating the load state of the auto-scaling group or the servercomponent in the Blue environment 330.

For example, in the case of the auto-scaling groupS02_WebAutoScalingGroup, the auto-scaling policies associated therewithare WebScaleUpPolicy and WebScaleDownPolicy. Further, the monitoringconditions associated therewith are WebCPUAlarmHigh and WebCPUAlarmLow,and the switching unit 405 searches for these two monitoring conditions.In the case of a queue 353 identified by R14, two monitoring conditionsS02_BatchQueueAlarmHigh and S02_BatchQueueAlarmLow are associatedtherewith. The switching unit 405 acquires the information about theauto-scaling state of the auto-scaling group or the server component inthe Blue environment 330 of which the value of the “Role” attribute isthe same as that of the resource specified as the monitored resource 602under these monitoring conditions.

For example, in the case of the queue 353 identified by R14, the valueof the “Role” attribute can be recognized to be “Batch” from the taginformation of R14 by referring to the record 522 in the resourceinformation management table (FIG. 5). The switching unit 405 finds outthat R04 placed in the row 514 is the queue 333 in the Blue environment330 for which the value of the “Role” attribute is “Batch”, and acquiresthe load state of R04 (NumberOfMessages).

Subsequently, in step S1113, the switching unit 405 determines whetherthe resource amount in the Green environment 350 should be adjustedbased on the information indicating the load state in the Blueenvironment 330, such as the amount of requests and the processing load,which has been acquired in step S1112.

For example, in the case of the queue 353 identified by R14, theswitching unit 405 determines whether the conditionS02_BatchQueueAlarmHigh or S02_BatchQueueAlarmLow is satisfied based onthe load state of the queue 333 identified by R04. In a case where themanagement system 100 is set to measure the load state a plurality oftimes at a specified interval, the switching unit 405 may be configuredto measure the load state a plurality of times or can be also configuredto measure the load state once in place thereof. There may be preparedan auto-scaling policy that is referred to only when the releasedproduction environment is switched.

If the switching unit 405 determines that the resource amount in theGreen environment 350 should be adjusted (YES in step S1113), theprocessing proceeds to step S1114. Then, the resource generation unit401 adjusts the resource amount in the Green environment 350. On theother hand, if the switching unit 405 determines that the resourceamount in the Green environment 350 does not have to be adjusted (NO instep S1113), the processing proceeds to step S1115.

In step S1115, the processing returns to the flowchart of FIG. 10, andthen proceeds to the next step.

The resource manager 303 may set the number of required devices 703and/or the specification 705 in the Green environment 350 in such amanner that the Green environment 350 has a generous processing capacitywith some extra added to the processing capacity of the Blue environment330.

In the case of the auto-scaling group, the resource manager 303 sets thenumber of required devices 703 or the like based on the auto-scalingpolicy associated with the monitoring condition with respect to whichthe load state has reached the upper limit in step S1113. At this time,the resource manager 303 sets the number of required devices 703 or thelike in such a manner that the amount of requests received by the loadbalancer 331 in the Blue environment 330, and the amount of requestsprocessable in the Green environment 350 match each other. The systemadministrator may be unable to specify the setting of the auto-scalingdue to, for example, the server component that is provided as themanaged service, such as the queue. In such a case, the resource manager303 calculates the number of required devices and/or the specificationto apply them to the server component based on the setting managedwithin the auto-scaling management unit 403. The system manager 300 maypredict the amount of requests when the released production environmentwill be switched, based on the amount of requests received by the Blueenvironment 330 during a predetermined time period before the releasedproduction environment is switched. The system manager 300 may determinethe amount of requests expected to be processable by the Greenenvironment 350 further in consideration of the increase or thereduction in the amount of requests in addition to the amount ofrequests received by the load balancer 331 in the Blue environment 330.The same applies to the application examples that will be describedbelow.

In the present exemplary embodiment, before the released productionenvironment is switched from the first processing system to the secondprocessing system, the resource amount in the second processing systemis increased with use of the information indicating the load state inthe first processing system. The processing for adjusting the resourceamount by the auto-scaling that is set so as to be performed when thesecond processing system serves as the released production environmentmay be performed as a method for increasing the resource amount in thesecond processing system. Alternatively, as another method, theprocessing for adjusting the resource amount to be performed at the timeof the processing for switching the released production environment maybe set in advance, and this processing for adjusting the resource amountmay be performed. The present exemplary embodiment can prevent thesecond processing system from falling behind in processing the requestsat the time of switching the released production environment, even whenthere is a difference between the first processing system and the secondprocessing system in terms of the server configuration, thespecification of the virtual machine, and/or the like.

A third exemplary embodiment is basically similar to the first exemplaryembodiment, and therefore only a difference therebetween will bedescribed. In the processing for adjusting the resource amount in theGreen environment 350 performed in step S1006, a migration method basedon “application of the operation performed last time” is used in thepresent exemplary embodiment while the migration method based on the“application of the number of required devices” is used in the firstexemplary embodiment, and the migration method based on the “applicationof the load state” is used in the second exemplary embodiment. In thepresent exemplary embodiment, the processing for adjusting the resourceamount that has been performed last time in the Blue environment 330 isalso performed in the Green environment 350 at the time of theacquisition of the information regarding the adjustment of the resourceamount in the Blue environment 330.

FIG. 11C is a flowchart illustrating a flow of the processing in theGreen environment 350 according to the present exemplary embodiment, andillustrates an example of a flow of the processing for adjusting theresource amount in the Green environment 350 by the migration methodbased on the “application of the operation performed last time”. Theprocessing for adjusting the resource amount in the Green environment350 is performed for each of the auto-scaling groups and the servercomponents in the Green environment 350.

The “application of the operation performed last time” means a migrationmethod that applies the operation performed last time in the Blueenvironment 330 by performing the control command held as the operationperformed last time on the server component or the like in the Blueenvironment 330, on the server component or the like correspondingthereto in the Green environment 350. In steps S1121 to S1124, theresource manager 303 performs the processing for adjusting the resourceamount in the Green environment 350 by the migration method based on the“application of the operation performed last time”. The “application ofthe operation performed last time” can be used even in a case where, forexample, the information indicating the number of required devices andthe information indicating the load state cannot be acquired.

In step S1122, the switching unit 405 acquires the operation performedlast time 706 with respect to the server component in the Blueenvironment 330 of which the “Role” attribute is the same. At the timeof the acquisition in step S1122, the operation performed last time 706is the processing for adjusting the resource amount that has beenperformed last time on the server component in the Blue environment 330.The switching unit 405 acquires the operation performed last time 706 ofthe auto-scaling group or the server component in the Blue environment330 of which the value of the “Role” attribute is the same as the valueset to the auto-scaling group, the server component, or the like that isthe repetition target. The switching unit 405 searches for theauto-scaling group or the server component for which the tag indicatingthe Blue environment 330 (the “Version” attribute is “100”) is containedin the tag 707, and the value of the “Role” attribute is the same.

For example, in the case of a load balancer 351 identified by R11,because the value of the “Role” attribute is “Web”, the switching unit405 selects a load balancer 331 identified by R01 in the row 712, inwhich (“Role”: “Web”) and (“Version”: “100”) are contained in the tag707, and the same type is specified in the type 702. Then, the switchingunit 405 acquires (“Change Type Medium”), which is a value of theoperation performed last time 706 of R01.

Subsequently, in step S1123, the auto-scaling management unit 403performs an operation of the same setting of the auto-scaling functionon the auto-scaling group, the server component, or the like in theGreen environment 350.

For example, the auto-scaling management unit 403 performs the operationperformed last time 706 (“Change Type=Medium”), which is the informationacquired in step S1122, on the load balancer 351 identified by R11. Inresponse to this operation, the load balancer 351 identified by R11carries out the auto-scaling such as increasing the number of virtualmachine(s) included therein.

In step S1124, the processing returns to the flowchart of FIG. 10, andthen proceeds to the next step.

The system manager 300 may predict the amount of requests when thereleased production environment will be switched, based on the amount ofrequests received by the Blue environment 330 during a predeterminedtime period before the released production environment is switched. Thesystem manager 300 may perform the processing for adjusting the resourceamount in the Green environment 350 further in consideration of theincrease or the decrease in the amount of requests in addition to theprocessing for adjusting the resource amount that has been performedlast time in the Blue environment 330. The same applies to theapplication examples that will be described below.

In the present exemplary embodiment, the same operation as theprocessing for adjusting the resource amount that has been performedlast time in the first processing system is performed in the secondprocessing system according to the instruction to switch the releasedproduction environment. The present exemplary embodiment can prevent thesecond processing system from falling behind in processing requests atthe time of switching the released production environment, even when theinformation indicating the number of virtual machines and theinformation indicating the load state cannot be acquired.

APPLICATION EXAMPLE 1

In the processing for adjusting the resource amount in the Greenenvironment 350 in step S1006, the switching unit 405 may control theswitching according to an arbitrary setting defined in the stacktemplate that specifies which migration method should be used among themigration methods according to the first exemplary embodiment to thethird exemplary embodiment. This setting may be shared among all of theauto-scaling groups and the server components in the processing system.The present exemplary embodiment will be described assuming that themigration method is set for each of the auto-scaling groups and theserver components.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of the stack template according to thepresent exemplary embodiment, and the migration method is writtentherein. The setting of the operation of reflecting the informationabout the auto-scaling state when the released production environment isswitched between the Blue environment 330 and the Green environment 350is specified in line 186 to line 199.

The setting regarding the migration method at the time of the processingfor adjusting the resource amount in the Green environment 350 when thereleased production environment is switched is specified in the line 186to line 199. For example, this setting is referred to when the switchingunit 405 receives the instruction to switch the released productionenvironment.

As an example of the setting, the operation with respect to theauto-scaling group for which “Web” is specified as the value of theattribute having Key indicating “Role” is set in line 187 to line 193.The “application of the number of required devices”(“CopyDesiredCapacity”) is specified as the migration method(MigrateMethod) thereof.

The switching unit 405 selects the information with respect to the Blueenvironment 330 to refer to for the processing for adjusting theresource amount in the Green environment 350, thereby setting themigration method. First, the switching unit 405 searches for theauto-scaling group or the server component that complies with themigration method specified in the stack template for the Greenenvironment 350 with respect to the auto-scaling group or the servercomponent that is the repetition target. The switching unit 405 acquiresthe stack template for the Green environment 350 from the stackreception unit 404.

The auto-scaling group “S02_WebAutoScalingGroup” in the auto-scalingstate information 715 has the “Role” attribute in which the value is setto “Web”, and complies with a first migration setting specified in line187 to line 193 in the stack template. Then, this migration method isthe “application of the number of required devices”. The switching unit405 may be configured to employ a predetermined migration method withoutreferring to the stack template.

As another example of the setting, the operation with respect to theauto-scaling group for which “Batch” is specified as the value of theattribute having Key indicating “Role” is set in line 194 to line 198.“No setting” (“None”) is specified as the migration method thereof(MigrateMethod).

The resource manager 303 applies the number of required devices 703 ofthe virtual machine 332 in the Blue environment 330 to the virtualmachine 352 in the Green environment 350, but does not apply the numberof required devices 703 of the virtual machine 334 in the Blueenvironment 330 to the virtual machine 354 in the Green environment 350.The virtual machine 332 is the web server or the like, and processes alarge number of requests from the predetermined network system, so thatthe virtual machine 352 in the Green environment 350 should be preparedas many as the number of required devices 703 before the environment isswitched. However, the virtual machine 334 is the batch server or thelike, and processes the queued messages after receiving them, so thatthe number of the virtual machines 354 only has to be increased by theauto-scaling function in the Green environment 350. This is because thenumber of queued messages is not increased in synchronization with thenumber of requests from the predetermined network system. Therefore, thenumber of virtual machines 354 in the Green environment 350 does nothave to be increased before the released production environment isswitched.

The setting specified in line 194 to line 198 allows the systemadministrator to save a server fee of the batch server when theprocessing system is switched.

If the auto-scaling group or the server component does not comply withthe migration method specified in the stack template, the switching unit405 sets the migration method specified for each type such as thevirtual machine and the server component by referring to FIG. 13.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a table indicating the migrationmethod specified by the type of the server component according to thepresent exemplary embodiment. The switching unit 405 manages informationabout the migration method, like, for example, information indicated byrecords 1311 and 1312. A type 1301 indicates the type such as thevirtual machine and the server component, and a migration method 1302indicates the migration method specified by type. For example, whendetermining the migration method for the load balancer 351 identified byR11 as the resource ID 501, the switching unit 405 refers to the row1311 illustrated in FIG. 13, and determines to use the “application ofthe operation performed last time” as the migration method. On the otherhand, in the case of the queue 353 identified by R14, the switching unit405 refers to the row 1312, and determines to use the “application ofthe load state” as the migration method. If the migration method cannotbe determined, the switching unit 405 sets the migration method to“None”.

The present exemplary embodiment allows the migration method to be setfor each group of the resources included in the processing system, andthe processing for adjusting the resource amount to be performedaccording to the migration method set for each group when the releasedproduction environment is switched.

APPLICATION EXAMPLE 2

A part of the processing illustrated in the flowcharts of FIGS. 10, and11A to 11C may be performed by the system manager 300, instead of theresource manager 303.

In step S1008 illustrated in FIG. 10, the released productionenvironment is switched from the Blue environment 330 to the Greenenvironment 350 after the resource amount in the Green environment 350is actually adjusted. It may take some time since the system manager 300issues the instruction to adjust the resource amount to the resourcegeneration unit 401 of the resource manager 303 until the resourceamount is actually adjusted. Therefore, for example, the system manager300 issues the instruction to switch the released production environmentafter confirming that the number of operating devices 704 matches thenumber of required devices 703 illustrated in FIG. 7.

Further, a timing when the resource amount in the Green environment 350is adjusted after the switching instruction is issued may be immediatelyafter the released production environment is actually switched. However,the resource amount in the Green environment 350 should be adjusted bythe auto-scaling in time.

OTHER EMBODIMENTS

Embodiment(s) of the disclosure can also be realized by a computer of asystem or apparatus that reads out and executes computer executableinstructions (e.g., one or more programs) recorded on a storage medium(which may also be referred to more fully as a ‘non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium’) to perform the functions of one ormore of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or that includes one ormore circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) forperforming the functions of one or more of the above-describedembodiment(s), and by a method performed by the computer of the systemor apparatus by, for example, reading out and executing the computerexecutable instructions from the storage medium to perform the functionsof one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or controllingthe one or more circuits to perform the functions of one or more of theabove-described embodiment(s). The computer may comprise one or moreprocessors (e.g., central processing unit (CPU), micro processing unit(MPU)) and may include a network of separate computers or separateprocessors to read out and execute the computer executable instructions.The computer executable instructions may be provided to the computer,for example, from a network or the storage medium. The storage mediummay include, for example, one or more of a hard disk, a random-accessmemory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a storage of distributedcomputing systems, an optical disk (such as a compact disc (CD), digitalversatile disc (DVD), or Blu-ray Disc (BD)™), a flash memory device, amemory card, and the like.

While the disclosure has been described with reference to exemplaryembodiments, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not limitedto the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the followingclaims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompassall such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.

This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application2014-254602, filed Dec. 16, 2014, and No. 2015-187460, filed Sep. 24,2015, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in theirentirety.

What is claimed is:
 1. A management system including a plurality ofprocessing systems each including at least one or more virtual machineseach configured to process a request, and a load distribution deviceconfigured to distribute the request to the virtual machine(s), themanagement system comprising: an acquisition unit configured to acquireinformation regarding adjustment of an amount of resources to be usedfor a first processing system according to an instruction for switchinga processing system that processes the request transmitted from apredetermined network system from the first processing system to asecond processing system included in the plurality of processingsystems; and an adjustment instruction unit configured to issue aninstruction for increasing the number of the virtual machines in thesecond processing system as an adjustment instruction to adjust anamount of resources in the second processing system based on theinformation acquired by the acquisition unit, wherein the processingsystem that processes the request transmitted from the predeterminednetwork system is switched from the first processing system to thesecond processing system according to the adjustment instruction issuedby the adjustment instruction unit.
 2. The management system accordingto claim 1, wherein the first processing system and the secondprocessing system each include a request processing system including oneor more virtual machines configured to receive the request from the loaddistribution device to process the request, and a batch processingsystem including one or more virtual machines configured to process amessage corresponding to the request processed by the request processingsystem, and wherein the adjustment instruction unit issues theadjustment instruction with respect to the request processing system inthe second processing system not with respect to the batch processingsystem in the second processing system based on the information acquiredby the acquisition unit.
 3. The management system according to claim 1,wherein the adjustment instruction unit further issues an instructionfor increasing an allocation of hardware resources to the virtualmachine(s) in the second processing system as the adjustment instructionto adjust the amount of resources in the second processing system basedon the information acquired by the acquisition unit.
 4. The managementsystem according to claim 1, wherein the resources used by each of thefirst processing system and the second processing system is provided byone or more server computers.
 5. The management system according toclaim 1, wherein an adjustment function of automatically carrying outadjustment to reduce the amount of resources in the second processingsystem according to an amount of the received request is enabled, afterthe processing system that processes the request transmitted from thepredetermined network system is switched from the first processingsystem to the second processing system.
 6. The management systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the information acquired by theacquisition unit is at least one of the number of the virtual machinesin the first processing system, an amount of the request received by thefirst processing system, and information indicating adjustment carriedout last time in the first processing system.
 7. The management systemaccording to claim 6, wherein the processing system is managed whilebeing divided into a plurality of groups each including at least any ofone or more virtual machines and one or more load distribution devices,wherein the management system further comprises a setting unitconfigured to set any one of the number of the virtual machines in thefirst processing system, the amount of the request received by the firstprocessing system, and the information indicating the adjustment carriedout last time in the first processing system, as the information withrespect to the first processing system that is used for the instructionissued by the adjustment instruction unit, for each of the groups of theresources used by the second processing system, wherein the acquisitionunit acquires at least one of the number of the virtual machines in thefirst processing system, the amount of the request received by the firstprocessing system, and the information indicating the adjustment carriedout last time in the first processing system according to the settingconfigured by the setting unit, and wherein the adjustment instructionunit issues the adjustment instruction to adjust the amount of resourcesin the second processing system based on the information acquired by theacquisition unit, for each of the groups of the resources used by thesecond processing system.
 8. The management system according to claim 1,wherein, if the amount of the request received by the first processingsystem or information indicating a load for request processing that isimposed on the first processing system is acquired by the acquisitionunit, the adjustment instruction unit issues the adjustment instructionto adjust the amount of resources in the second processing system basedon this acquired information.
 9. The management system according toclaim 1, wherein, if information indicating adjustment carried out lasttime in the first processing system is acquired by the acquisition unit,the adjustment instruction unit issues an instruction to carry out, inthe second processing system, the adjustment indicated by theinformation acquired by the acquisition unit as the adjustmentinstruction to adjust the amount of resources in the second processingsystem.
 10. The management system according to claim 1, wherein aversion of an application running on the virtual machine(s) in the firstprocessing system, and a version of an application running on thevirtual machine(s) in the second processing system are different fromeach other.
 11. A control method for controlling a management systemincluding a plurality of processing systems each including at least oneor more virtual machines each configured to process a request, and aload distribution device configured to distribute the request to thevirtual machine(s), the control method comprising: acquiring informationregarding adjustment of an amount of resources to be used for a firstprocessing system according to an instruction for switching a processingsystem that processes the request transmitted from a predeterminednetwork system from the first processing system to a second processingsystem included in the plurality of processing systems; and issuing aninstruction for increasing the number of the virtual machines in thesecond processing system as an adjustment instruction to adjust anamount of resources in the second processing system based on theinformation acquired in the acquiring, wherein the processing systemthat processes the request transmitted from the predetermined networksystem is switched from the first processing system to the secondprocessing system according to the adjustment instruction issued in theissuing.
 12. The control method according to claim 11, wherein the firstprocessing system and the second processing system each include arequest processing system including one or more virtual machinesconfigured to receive the request from the load distribution device toprocess the request, and a batch processing system including one or morevirtual machines configured to process a message corresponding to therequest processed by the request processing system, and wherein theadjustment instruction is issued with respect to the request processingsystem in the second processing system not with respect to the batchprocessing system in the second processing system based on theinformation acquired in the acquiring.
 13. The control method accordingto claim 11, wherein an instruction for increasing an allocation ofhardware resources to the virtual machine(s) in the second processingsystem is further issued as the adjustment instruction to adjust theamount of resources in the second processing system based on theinformation acquired in the acquiring.
 14. The control method accordingto claim 11, wherein the resources used by each of the first processingsystem and the second processing system is provided by one or moreserver computers.
 15. The control method according to claim 11, whereinan adjustment function of automatically carrying out adjustment toreduce the amount of resources in the second processing system accordingto an amount of the received request is enabled, after the processingsystem that processes the request transmitted from the predeterminednetwork system is switched from the first processing system to thesecond processing system.
 16. The control method according to claim 11,wherein the information acquired in the acquiring is at least one of thenumber of the virtual machines in the first processing system, an amountof the request received by the first processing system, and informationindicating adjustment carried out last time in the first processingsystem.
 17. The control method according to claim 16, wherein theprocessing system is managed while being divided into a plurality ofgroups each including at least any of one or more virtual machines andone or more load distribution devices, wherein the control methodfurther comprises setting any one of the number of the virtual machinesin the first processing system, the amount of the request received bythe first processing system, and the information indicating theadjustment carried out last time in the first processing system, as theinformation with respect to the first processing system that is used forthe instruction issued in the issuing, for each of the groups of theresources used by the second processing system, wherein at least one ofthe number of the virtual machines in the first processing system, theamount of the request received by the first processing system, and theinformation indicating the adjustment carried out last time in the firstprocessing system is acquired in the acquiring according to the settingconfigured in the setting, and wherein, in the issuing, the adjustmentinstruction to adjust the amount of resources in the second processingsystem is issued based on the information acquired in the acquiring, foreach of the groups of the resources used by the second processingsystem.
 18. The control method according to claim 11, wherein, if anamount of the request received by the first processing system orinformation indicating a load for request processing that is imposed onthe first processing system is acquired in the acquiring, in theissuing, the adjustment instruction to adjust the amount of resources inthe second processing system is issued based on this acquiredinformation.
 19. The control method according to claim 11, wherein, ifinformation indicating adjustment carried out last time in the firstprocessing system is acquired in the acquiring, in the issuing, aninstruction to carry out, in the second processing system, theadjustment indicated by the information acquired by the acquiring isissued as the adjustment instruction to adjust the amount of resourcesin the second processing system.
 20. The control method according toclaim 11, wherein a version of an application running on the virtualmachine(s) in the first processing system, and a version of anapplication running on the virtual machine(s) in the second processingsystem are different from each other.